The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Feng Xiaoxiao recalled the young, handsome guy she saw wearing a chef’s uniform when she came for a meal some time ago.

At that time, the young chef had gone to the front desk to pick up a parcel, and she noticed he was quite handsome, so she paid special attention.

The receptionist called out to him twice as ”Sous-Chef.”

After hearing this, she thought, oh, so he’s a sous-chef, not the head chef yet.

After going home, she completely forgot about the incident.

Then, just two days later, when her family was watching TV, there happened to be a culinary promotion program showcasing the specialties of Qianlima Restaurant.

Among the two people being interviewed, the charismatic head chef mentioned that two of the restaurant’s special dishes were innovative improvements made by Chef Fu, who is an outstanding young chef at their restaurant.

Feng Xiaoxiao then recalled the young, handsome chef she had seen before.

It turns out this person’s last name was Fu, not just a job title as she had assumed.

This back and forth made Feng Xiaoxiao’s impression of Chef Fu a bit more profound.

However...

What happened to Chef Fu?

Out of curiosity, Feng Xiaoxiao asked, ”Hey! You just mentioned that Chef Fu was disciplined? What was it for?”

Jiang Mo was taken aback and looked at Feng Xiaoxiao, suddenly remembering that this was the anchorwoman who had visited the restaurant before.

Feng Xiaoxiao also found Jiang Mo’s face somewhat familiar.

So, she smiled and said, ”I think it was you who took my order the last time I dined here when I asked for the four classic dishes, and you recommended I try the seafood porridge!”

Jiang Mo laughed, ”Yes, that was me, hello.”

Feng Xiaoxiao nodded, ”The Chef Fu you mentioned earlier, is he the tall and handsome one?”

Jiang Mo was a bit surprised, ”Do you know him?”

Feng Xiaoxiao said, ”Uh... kind of, so, you said he got disciplined? What was it for? Isn’t he an outstanding chef at your restaurant?”

Ever since the previous incident where a customer caused trouble and Fu Yu stepped up to help, Jiang Mo felt grateful to him.

Gradually, she realized that Fu Yu was genuinely good, responsible, good-tempered, and very talented.

This made Jiang Mo appreciate Fu Yu even more.

Having just seen the disciplinary notice about Fu Yu in the work group chat, she felt a bit indignant on his behalf.

The others might not be aware of the situation, but she made regular trips to the kitchen to deliver order slips and knew what was happening there very well.

Zhao Meng, the team leader, had an old ailment flare-up, so it was currently Fu Yu who was in charge of taking orders.

Sun Qingning hadn’t been on the stove for long, so it was still mainly Fu Yu holding things up.

The kitchen crew had been working long shifts these days; their hard work was evident.

Jiang Mo thought that even if Fu Yu had slacked off for a bit, it was no big deal.

Besides, she knew that Fu Yu had only been gone for just over four hours.

The punishment seemed a bit too severe.

Jiang Mo had been at the restaurant for a while and was well-informed.

She had heard that Jia Rundong had connections in the restaurant and wanted to use the back kitchen to cut in line, but Fu Yu had turned him down.

When the order attendant responsible for passing messages returned, they talked about this incident among themselves.

Everyone thought that someone as petty as Jia Rundong would likely target Fu Yu because of this.

And sure enough, before even two days had passed, Jia Rundong retaliated immediately.

Now hearing Feng Xiaoxiao’s question, Jiang Mo couldn’t help but speak up for Fu Yu, ”Isn’t it just because he offended someone, and they think Chef Fu, having just been promoted, doesn’t have any background and is easy to bully!”

Feng Xiaoxiao quickly asked, ”What was the punishment for?”

Jiang Mo said, ”For leaving his post, Chef Fu left during work hours for more than four hours and got noticed because of it.”

”Actually, Chef Fu works diligently, and his culinary skills are exceptional. The new innovative dishes launched by our restaurant were all made by him! This time, it was because he insisted on serving dishes to customers in sequence and offended our manager Jia Rundong by not letting his introduced friends cut in line, and that’s why he got retaliated against afterward!”

”This Jia Rundong is just the worst! For being absent for four hours, they want to dock half a month’s salary from Chef Fu and cancel his year-end bonus! It’s clearly a personal vendetta!”

Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaoxiao’s face immediately fell.

Isn’t this a typical workplace dark practice?

Because he insisted on principles and followed the restaurant rules, he ended up offending someone and getting unjustly bullied in return!

Thinking of this made Feng Xiaoxiao inexplicably angry.

She was inherently someone with a strong sense of justice, and she also had a good impression of Fu Yu because he was handsome.

After all, how could someone so good-looking not take their work seriously!

Feng Xiaoxiao decided to ask for more details, determined to get to the bottom of the matter.

”So what exactly did Chef Fu go out to do?”

Jiang Mo shook her head, she really didn’t know, mainly because when she asked Zhang Jinyu yesterday, he said Fu Yu had something to attend to but didn’t specify what it was.

Jiang Mo assumed Fu Yu had gone either to pick up a parcel or to the restroom; as long as the chefs in the kitchen could serve dishes on time, they had quite a bit of freedom.

However, their workload was indeed quite heavy, making it impractical to establish fixed break times for them.

After all, you can never precisely predict when customers will show up to dine.

Jiang Mo said, ”Yesterday afternoon, when I went over to deliver order slips and saw Chef Fu was busy cooking, and he was also there in the evening, so he probably left for a few hours in between. But at that time, both the head and the executive chefs were present, so if he left, he definitely informed them! This Jia Rundong is clearly picking a fight here!”

After gathering some information from Jiang Mo, Feng Xiaoxiao finally placed her order.

Once inside the private room, she further inquired about the matter with the waiter and the food server, listening to their respective perspectives.

After compiling all the information, Feng Xiaoxiao more or less understood the whole story.

The ordered dishes soon arrived at the table, but she was no longer in a hurry to eat; instead, she picked up her phone and started making calls.

”Hey, what are you busy with?”

”I’m eating at Qianlima. Guess what I found out!”

”Did you see the culinary promotion program from the provincial TV station? There was an episode specifically introducing the specialties of Qianlima Restaurant... Ah, great, you’ve seen it too, right?”

”They mentioned an outstanding young chef, his name is actually Fu Yu, and let me tell you, he’s really handsome in person!”

”No, it’s not about chasing him! Didn’t you say you needed some material before? I’ll provide you with something, it’s about workplace dark practices...”

”Of course, I can guarantee it! I’ve verified it with several staff members in the restaurant! The situation goes like this... blah blah blah...”